Quinn signs bill outlawing phone 'cramming'

July 18, 2012|By Monique Garcia | Tribune reporter

Gov. Pat Quinn gives the sign of approval for the consumer protection legislation that will protect consumers from false phone charges. Attorney General Lisa Madigan, left, and State Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, right, joined him at the press conference at the Citizens Utility Board today. (Michael Tercha, Chicago Tribune)

Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation Wednesday to outlaw "cramming," a practice in which third-party companies place unwanted an unauthorized charges on a customer's phone bill.

The charges usually go unnoticed by consumers, who are typically billed anywhere from $5 to $45 for services ranging from calling cards to voice mail and extended warranties they never signed up for.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan estimates cramming impacts as many as 20 million households across America each year, raising $2 billion for companies she calls "scammers."

Madigan said consumers often get hit with the surprise charges after providing their phone number online for things like free recipes or prizes. Companies then use the phone number as a sort of credit card, passing along fees that then appear on a customer's phone bill.

In the past, phone companies looked the other way because they got a slice of the profits, but Madigan said that has changed in recent years after cramming gained wider attention.

The new law would only apply to customers who have land line phones, though Madigan acknowledged banning the practice on cell phone bills is the likely next step. Illinois is the second state to ban cramming, following Vermont's lead. The measure goes into effect on Jan. 1.

"It is a problem in large part because people don't ever see these charges on their phone bills," Madigan said. "Please, you have to read your phone bills. You have to read your credit card bill. You have to make sure that everything that's on your bills is something that you actually authorized."